Elizabeth Fu has thanked to her two student trainers, Celine Mitchell and Jaidyn Rodrigues, for the successful ten-week program.
A former swimmer and cancer survivor, tells how a chance glance at a flyer on a student run program at her work led to a life-changing achievement.
An International Account Manager at Edith Cowan University (ECU), Elizabeth Fu said her decision to participate in a student personal training program was simply to improve her overall fitness.
However, the results led to much more, including national swimming gold medals.
Jaidyn Rodrigues and Celine Mitchell who are studying ECU’s Bachelor of Science (Exercise Science and Rehabilitation) were responsible for co-ordinating and implementing a ten-week fitness training program for Miss Fu as a part of their course curriculum.
This ECU course prepares graduates for careers as world-ready sports physiologists, and as these two students’ success show, their work can be life-changing.
Together, the students tailored a personalised, science-based fitness plan, which not only accommodated to Miss Fu’s individual health requirements, following a prior knee injury, but a program that would also allow her to reach personal health goals and overall swimming performance.
From personal best to national titles
By the end of the intensive ten-week program, which involved one hour a week with her trainers, and many more disciplined hours outside of the ECU Joondalup campus gym, Miss Fu’s swimming reaction time entering the pool had improved by .12 of a second and reduced her 50 metre sprint times by 2.5 seconds.
Miss Fu went on to compete in the 2022 Australian Masters Games at Perth’s HBF Stadium. The national competition is one of the largest multisport festivals to be held anywhere in the country. She collected five gold medals and three silver in the 50, 100 and 200 metre breaststroke and backstroke swimming events.
“Without Jaidyn and Celine’s help in designing a science based and personalised program combined with my self-discipline and perseverance, I wouldn’t have had such a significant improvement in my swimming performance to that level.”
Jaidyn explained that it is the combination of science, with a purpose driven fitness routine, enabled them to take Miss Fu’s training to the next level.
“To begin our program with Elizabeth, we had to discuss her goals so that we may structure the training to suit her needs. Her two goals were to improve flexibility and improve quadricep strength,” said Jaidyn.
“This provided us with a baseline to be able to design a lower body focussed resistance program, in line with her goals. We also recorded and tracked Elizabeth’s three rep max on the bench press, leg press, and seated row.
“During this program, she achieved a personal best with a 300kg 3RM leg press from a 140kg start.”
Miss Fu is a great supporter of the program, saying that you can never underestimate what can be achieved when you have well-educated and well-trained people helping you using a powerful weapon like science, even if they are still students.
Turn working out into a working career
For those interested in using exercise to improve people’s health, fitness and general well-being, ECU’s Bachelor of Science degrees offer a range of avenues into the professional world of sports science.
“I would highly recommend SPS2524 (Exercise Delivery) to any students seeking to make a career in the exercise industry. This course educates students on how to design and implement exercise programs for a variety of clients and is a great way to get real life experience,” Jaidyn said.
The degree also allows graduates to apply to become Accredited Exercise Physiologists with Exercise and Sports Science Australia (ESSA).
Learn more about ECU's Bachelor of Science, Exercise and Sports Science.
